Of Snowstorms and Musings
by Chocolate Confection
Summary: [Slight RioxEyes] Rio and Eyes in a snowstorm. Rio compares Eyes to the snow. Written as per a request by liyenthel.


This was for a request from liyenthel. "The snow keeps the cold away". I thought it'd be perfect for these two. ...I don't think snowstorms are common in Japan though... and I don't know what they're doing in a forest... plot holes... yikes.

Spoiler Warnings: _I'm not really sure if there are any... maybe just some slight implications, but you wouldn't notice unless you actually read or watched it... I guess it's a spoiler if you don't know who Eyes, Rio, Kousuke, and Ryoko are?_  
Disclaimer: _I don't own Spiral. If I did, Kousuke and Ryoko would never have wound up together I can assure you.  
_Story Notes: _Done for a request from liyenthel with the phrase "The snow keeps the cold away". _

* * *

**Of Snowstorms and Musings  
**_KatYoukai (Chocolate Confection)_

The trouble with weather forecasts is that they are often wrong, and the trouble with being the forecaster is that he or she is often the one who receives the blame when said forecast proves to be incorrect. As it was, one Takeuchi Rio was considering how much trouble she would get into for sending the aforementioned person one of her trademark bombs.

They had lost Ryoko a little whiles back and Kousuke – the idiot – had gone back to look for her. Then, the snowstorm struck. And so it was that Eyes and Rio found themselves trudging through the blizzard, in search for the others. Normally, one would have to be quite lacking in the sanity department to go prancing off through a large forest in such weather, much less split up. But then, when they entered, they had been under the impression that it would be a beautiful sunny day.

Yes, Rio decided that she would send that bomb after all.

"We should stop and wait out the storm."

Rio stopped and looked up at Eyes, squinting through the stinging winds.

"What about Kousuke and Ryoko?"

"They are more than capable of taking care of themselves, and it's foolhardy to wander blindly off into a storm," Eyes replied.

She knew he was right. They'd only cause more trouble if something happened to them in the snowstorm and that was more than likely to happen if they continued to move. This was so bothersome.

The trees provided little shelter with the wind bombarding them from all sides. Instead, the two of them found cover where the roots of a tree had caused the snow to form a cave-like area. Often, it seemed, the snow was just as good at providing warmth as it was at causing the cold. Just like Eyes.

Snow, by its nature, was cold. Eyes, by all means, could only be described as such. He handled tough situations with cool calm. His demeanour was rigid if somewhat cynical and mocking.

But as cold as snow was, it was also capable of warmth. Rio recalled the time she had landed herself in the hospital and Eyes had come - with a melon! - to visit her. It probably wasn't the best idea, all things considered but... he had been worried. Just that and his presence alone was enough to warm her heart. Ironically enough, when presented with warmth, snow also melted. Rio wondered if Eyes was the same way. Perhaps she should try it.

Rio was rubbing the feeling back into her numb cheeks which moments earlier had been lashed by the freezing winds and snow. Snow could also be harsh. Storms were harsh. Eyes was often like a snowstorm. The way he talked to Narumi-otouto when they first met reminded her of one – she hadn't actually been there, but Kousuke had told her afterwards. The way he dealt with hunters definitely did too.

And then the storm would calm and become gentle snowfall. Gentle, like when Eyes sometimes patted her head absentmindedly. Like the way he would speak to them on those ever so rare occasions.

Snow was rather contradictory, Rio thought then, and Eyes was as well. But, she decided, that was something she liked about him.

She recalled a time when she had once looked out a frost-covered window at the delicate white flakes falling and covering the earth. She had thought then of how the snow managed to change the rest of the world, but always seemed unchanged by the world itself.

Eyes was independent. He always managed to make an impact on the world but still remained unmoved by it.

The first time Rio had ever seen it snow, she thought to herself how beautiful the calm flakes were as they slowly drifted to the ground. She had reached out to catch a snowflake in delight. The snowflake had rested in her palms for all but a second before melting away and becoming a simple droplet of water.

She had always thought he was beautiful, beautiful like the snow on that one day so long ago. But like it, he was just as untouchable. If you touched the snow, it would melt. If you touched Eyes, he would vanish, just like that, before you.

He was beautiful and independent, standing amongst a world that seemed to move around him, detached. To the world and the people whose hearts he managed to touch, he was still unmovable and unreachable. And Rio was one of those people. But that was one of the things that enchanted her most, so she didn't really mind.

A gust of wind found its way into the mound they were currently taking shelter in and she shivered.

"Are you cold?" Eyes asked, bringing her out of her train of thought.

Rio gazed out at the blanket of white blanketing the world outside the little hole. It was mostly white in general but was tinged silver in the edges that met the sky: the colour of Eyes's hair.

And she replied then, "…No, the snow keeps the cold away."

Eyes really was like the snow after all.


End file.
